The video of the encounter between the outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the elderly Persa Todorovska from the village of Volkovo, broke records on the social media. Grandma Persa confronted Zaev during his visit to Volkovo, telling him to drive up the road to her house and see how the long promised road was never paved and how raw sewage spills into an open ditch.

The woman also lambasted the local SDSM Mayor Aleksandar Naumovski, who, along with Zaev, made the promise to the villagers. Zaev replied that the woman is part of a staged event, implying she is lying, and Naumovski also sent out a video which shows streets that were paved in Volkovo.

But TV crews kept visiting the hillside village and comparing the promises made by Zaev and Naumovski to the situation on the ground, and it didn’t compare well. The woman explained how she herself paid to have the dirt road to her house partially covered up.

После објавеното видео, градоначалникот Александар Наумовски ни испрати видео со своја верзија на приказната…Секако, моравме да се вратиме во Волково за да ја потврдиме или негираме неговата верзија…Погледнете ја реакцијата на Баба Перса кога го виде видеото на градоначалникот на Ѓорче Петров

Gepostet von Furkan Saliu am Donnerstag, 5. Dezember 2019

Zaev was seen as tone deaf, especially as he greeted the press and the villagers of Volkovo with the words that he just came back from the NATO summit in London where he met the Queen and visited the Buckingham Palace and “Down Street”, but that he allegedly feels much better in the village. But the reception for the outgoing Prime Minister was more heated than warm.

They live in Buckingham, and grandma Persa lives in Volkovo. As soon as they are faced with the reality of Volkovo, they declare it “fake news”, said activist and former political prisoner of the Zaev regime Bogdan Ilievski.